what the actual fuck? is this a joke?

First, give yourself a pat on the back. By making it as far as the FAQ, you are officially 1179% smarter than your friend who just Facebooked 'OMG! Is this real? I can't believe it it's a disgrace. Sad face emoji.' So, yes, this is a joke. Obviously. You can stop getting angry now. Or get angry, but get angry at what Rent-a-Minority is angry about. The site is a #satire on a type of tokenism that is particularly rife in the tech and media world. Rather than address institutional inequality in any meaningful way, diversity is something that is generally just for (temporary) show. Companies tend to be very careful to ensure that their websites contain an acceptable ratio of women and non-white people; on their leadership boards, however, it’s another matter.

So how do we actually change institutional inequality?

Not through Rent-A-Minority, obviously. Ultimately it comes down to increasing social mobility by closing socioeconomic gaps. Ensuring equal access to education for everyone. That’s a big ask and not something that happens overnight. However, companies can help change structural inequality by: 1) drawing attention to the problem; 2) offering paid internships instead of unpaid internships that only wealthy people can afford to do; 3) finding a way to recruit that looks at talent beyond the boy's club; 4) constantly auditing themselves to see that they are doing what they can to advance the careers of the top talent, no matter race/gender/religion etc; 5) ensuring your lowest paid staff get a living wage; 6) paying your damn taxes; 7) LEARN HOW TO SEARCH. Seriously. It's not actually that hard to find qualified people who aren't straight, white, men to sit on your panel. Here is a useful tool to learn how to search.

I AM A STRAIGHT WHITE MAN AND I FEEL EXCLUDED BY THIs. can you make your site a little bit more about me, me, me?

I'm sorry that your feelings are hurt. I have listened to your feedback and, in response, am currently working on rentamajority.com. Stay tuned. In the meantime, thank you for your interest in maintaining the status quo. I mean, 'equality', it's overrated, right?

Who can I complain to about this?

Arwa dot Mahdawi at gmail dot com@ArwaM

Arwa is also available to rent if you need a minority at your next tech conference.